posted on May 1, 2001 01:14:31 PM
I have been trying to figure out how to become an "importer" of goods (on a small scale) for future sale in a storefront or on Ebay. I've scoured the US Customs website, and checked out documents from our US Government Depository Library on the subject - but frankly, I cannot figure out how to start short of making an appointment with a Customs official and asking them to tell me in simple terms how I go about starting up. Has anyone set up such a business before? Do you have any tips or how-tos, or can you direct me to the right place to find out?
Thanks,
El
"The customer may not always be right, but she is always the customer."
posted on May 1, 2001 01:52:06 PM
In order to be in the import business, you'll need a good customs brokerage company. You can look in the phone book to find one close to you. Give them a call and they may be able to give you some insight on the types of items you are thinking about bringin into the States.
posted on May 1, 2001 10:13:17 PM
eleanordew: I'll give you my experience. I used to work for an internet start up company which imported art, clothing, and jewelry from India and sold it online. None of us had ever done importing before. We were a small company, ordering approximately $200 to $500 in goods at a time. 3 employees so we all had to take turns doing *everything*. Ordering from companies overseas is easy, it's getting it into the US that's hard. Our overseas suppliers handled everything on their end (most big companies overseas already know how to get the stuff to america). Then when it arrived at the airport the real 'fun' began. My boss sent me down to pick it up with a blank check, thinking it would be a couple of hours at the most---no big deal. Instead, it became a nightmare of paperwork and requests for information that we didn't have. No kidding, I have a college degree from one of America's finest universities, consider myself to be of above average intelligence and have plenty of patience, and after a couple of hours at the customs building I was just helpless. The workers are government drones at their worst and either can't or won't help you with the papers you need to fill out which are not at all user friendly for people with no previous customs experience. The forms were a nightmare of jargon and we couldn't figure out how much duty we would have to pay even if we did get the boxes out. It could have been $50, it could have been $500.
After 8 hours of trying (meanwhile, our online orders were piling up) I gave up and drove back to work with no boxes. My boss got advice several times to get a customs broker but he didn't want to pay the $100 it would cost him. He sent another employee down to the customs building instead. Another fruitless day. All the customs employees will tell you is 'get a broker'. Finally my boss (who was such a cheap bastard but that's another story) gave in and got a customs broker (they usually have offices right next door to the customs building). The customs people had the boxes on our doorstep by the same afternoon. They handled all the paperwork and took care of the duties out of the retainer we paid them and refunded the difference, minus their $100 fee. After that, we never again even tried to get stuff through ourselves. Having a customs broker is like having a lawyer at court, you don't want to try to 'do it yourself' because it's just too complicated. Our customs broker told us that our story is identical to about 50% of the business he receives. He also said we would need a full time employee to really understand all the regs and rules governing imports.
Other people I know tell similar stories.
The moral of this story is: if it's too big to come in a regular mailbox, you need a broker!!! Don't be put off by the cost, they are quite reasonable and will save you a WORLD of aggravation.
posted on May 2, 2001 05:37:24 AM
Hi, I am involved in the brokerage business. No I am NOT soliciting business.
My web page is www.net-sw.com.
Customs brokerage is not well understood by most people.
Imagine it this way.
In the old days a ship would pull up to a dock and unload a shipload of freight on the dock, some perishable some not.
The cusoms officers(few) would have to check this whole load and assess duties meantime tying up the dock, preventing other ships from unloading.Things got jammed up real fast.
A system for clearing these goods was devised to get the goods off the dock , yet assuring payment to government...private brokers who accepted liability of duties and taxes.
Basically, thats what a broker does, arranges for quick release of the goods and guarantees the government their money.
If you are serious about importing goods, you have 2 choices, Hire a broker or take the risks.
And if you want to take the risk, beware the customs regulations make as much sense as the income tax regulations. The penalties financial and others are substantial.
If you decide to try and clear your own goods there is no legal excuse for ignorance of the law.
To sum up if you are serious about an import businees large or small,take a broker to lunch.He will save you money and time in the end.
There are many brokers in the Yellow pages or on the internet and they are very compettive.
posted on May 2, 2001 06:19:35 AM
I worked on the manuals for some software that had to comply with US customs regulations ... it's not something I would recommend you do yourself, because they are WORSE than the IRS publications. We had a couple of lawyers and customs brokers on call to check the code to make sure it was doing it "right".
One thing a good broker can do is find the LOWEST legal tariff for your items among the numerous confusing rates. An item might fall into several classifications with wildly differing rates ... from long hours of reading the rate tables they know which ones apply and which are lowest.
